Smooth Operator
If you are looking for ease of use and sleek design you won’t get much better than the Nokia 6234, but it isn’t going to be all things to all people.
Nokia
isn’t known for exclusive handset designs but the company has just come
up with one for Vodafone, in the shape of the 3G, tri band GSM 6234. Those
who aren’t with Vodafone, or who don’t want to switch just for
this handset, could take a peek at Nokia’s 6233 which looks different
on the outside but is very similar on the inside.
But we have the Nokia 6234 in our hands, and that’s what we are concentrating on here. The bespoke hardware design is one of the most important features of this handset. Forget all those fancy slider designs or the phones peppered with buttons which are too small - or too close together - or too inconsiderately located on the handset to find.
What we have here is a plain old fashioned candy bar, small and slender enough to nestle easily in pocket without causing an unsightly bulge, and basic looking enough that the light-fingered shouldn’t be tempted to lift it for its ‘host of built in features’.
Just as important as size and looks is the fact that the design has been put together with ease of use in mind. The navigation key isn’t exactly large, but it is constructed well. Its outer edges sink inwards towards the select button, allowing you to feel your way around easily with a thumb. The Call and End keys - and the two softmenu keys - look far too small to be effective, but because they are spaced well apart from each other are very easy to find and hit without looking too hard for them.
And the number pad is a lesson to everyone in handset design, and the lesson is this: keys don’t have to be huge to be easy to use. Curve them nicely so that each key can be clearly identified by touch and make them depress a nice long way when tapped, and you have a keyboard that any texter should be able to use with a fair turn of speed.
When
it comes to features and functions, the overall experience is a bit like taking
a last minute package holiday. There is a reasonable amount of goodness to
be had, but also a few frustrations.
Take the star feature, for example – the fact that this is a 3G handset. That means fast data for Web access, mobile email and such like. And of course, this being a Vodafone handset, all the fun of Vodafone Live! too.
But with no front facing camera, you can’t have videocalls. Well, that’s not strictly true. You can both make and receive video calls, but with a twist that may irk. With the screen facing you it is possible to see the caller’s face. The caller gets to see whatever the lens of the 2 megapixel camera on the back of the handset is picking up.
If you want to show the caller your face, you need to look into the lens, and then - if you are following this you will see where we are going – you won’t be able to see the caller because, of course, you won’t be looking at the front of your handset, but at its back.
The camera itself is quite good, though, and its 2 megapixles for stills and 640 x 480 maximum resolution for video is not to be sniffed at. The side mounted shutter button combines with the softmenu keys to make the camera nice and easy to use – ‘nice and easy’ being the theme of this handset, it seems.
The memory is a bit of a downer. Even for a mid range handset 6MB of on board storage seems a little light, but a memory check of our review handset clean out of its box turned up just 2.1MB of free space. The handset supports microSD cards – there’s a slot on the left edge of the casing, and you get a 64MB card. This is some compensation, but with handsets sporting tens of megabytes becoming the norm, we feel the Nokia 6234 is a bit undercooked in this respect.
One of the uses to which you can put the memory is storage of tunes for playback through the supplied headset or the twin speakers on the left and right edges of the hardware. Don’t get too carried away with the idea of stereo sound from these speakers. It’s not as good as having the earbuds providing the stereo. Sound output in general is OK but nothing special. What is a bit special is the FM radio with its 20 preset stations.
There’s a fair bit more going on here. Such as the calendar and address book that can synch with your PC over Bluetooth (or a cable if you buy one), and the rather nice 320 x 240 pixel screen.
The overall impression, is of a handset which fits a mid range niche rather well, and punches above its weight in terms of usability. The real annoyances, the lack of a front facing camera and memory shortage, will not bother everyone, and considering how low you can go on contract and get this handset for free, it may well be worth a look.
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.
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